The Centurion Aerospace Village
17 September 2015
The Democratic Alliance (DA) held a press conference today in which they made baseless allegations related to the use of public funds, the absence of buildings at the Centurion Aerospace Village (CAV) and inaccurate allegations regarding processes involving an investigation instituted by the Department of Trade and Industry.
The CAV is fully operational. At present there is one tenant, a company which is a global supplier of aircraft components. The company concerned was awarded a tender to supply Airbus in an open international tender, requiring globally competitive capabilities.
The CAV is well place to attract further tenants in the aerospace and defence manufacturing and related services sector. Supplier parks and clusters of this nature have a long start-up phase where the provision of infrastructure is critical to their success. It is for this reason that the continued installation of the bulk earthworks infrastructure will continue and pave the way for the entry of more tenants and the development of a successful supplier park.
Further facts of the matter are as follows;
R94 million was transferred to the CAV, of which R67 million has been utilised for bulk infrastructure and the construction of buildings.
When the dti first became aware of possible irregularities at the Centurion Aerospace Village (CAV) project, it immediately instituted an internal audit in August 2012. Thereafter an independent forensic audit was commissioned in July 2013. The final forensic audit reports were presented to the dti in August 2014.
Arising from the findings of the audit investigations the dti initiated the following:
Disciplinary action was initiated against staff including action involving the immediate dismissal of a Director responsible for the programme. The dismissal was pre-empted by the resignation of the staff member concerned. Nevertheless the dti is pursuing criminal charges against the individual concerned and with the intention of recovering funds as recommended in the audit. The legal services section of the dti currently awaits a pre-trial conference date for these proceedings.
Disciplinary action has been taken against one Chief Director and is in another instance is underway. In both cases the staff members are accused of negligence in the performance of their duties.
In respect of recommended criminal proceedings against two individuals, including a former dti employee as well as a company, a case was opened with the South African Police Services at the Sunnyside Police Station in December 2013.
In the case of one CAV employee the dti has instructed the Board of the CAV to take appropriate disciplinary measures.
With respect to matters of oversight and governance the following action was taken.
The development and implementation of a more robust finance, governance and oversight system and appropriate institutional arrangements at the CAV was concluded and put in place.
In keeping with the above, measures to strengthen the Board of Directors, the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer and the appointment of a fully functional Audit and Risk Committee at the CAV have been implemented.
In certain other instances contracts with service providers were rescinded. In the case of one company efforts to recover funds were fruitless, because the company has been liquidated.
South Africa has globally competitive capabilities in the aerospace sector. The CAV is one instrument amongst others, designed to support private sector companies to raise their competitiveness and capabilities, including with respect to their export readiness and entry into global value chains in the sector.
In this regard Minister Davies commented;
‘The Department of Trade and Industry is fully committed towards the development of the CAV into a leading supplier park in the aerospace and defence, manufacturing and services sector.”
‘It is important that in exercising their important constitutional oversight functions, opposition parties avoid the temptation to behave recklessly with freely available facts. As the executive and accounting authorities we are also required to respect the legal and constitutional rights of individuals that may be cited in audit investigations, as was the case in this instance.
Statement issued by Sidwell Medupe-Departmental Spokesperson, DTI, September 17 2015
